Innocent
by AshlandBarnes17
Summary: 21 Chump Street fanfic. There is an OC. Give this a try, you wont regret. I stink at summaries.
1. Chapter 1

**(A/N): Another quick story. Again, I really appreciate comments and favorites. Make sure to follow, this is going to have four parts. Anyways, hope you like the story.**

The room was small, almost bare, save for the table and three chairs set right in the middle of the room. The two-way mirror was stark, showing your tired reflection. You'd been here for hours, waiting for someone to come in and talk to you, letting you give your statement. You already knew what you were going to say, seeing as there was no point in lying about your situation. As you walked around the room, softly singing to yourself, you wondered where they would ask you to begin your story. As you stood in the corner, debating what to do next to alleviate your boredom, a man in a suit with shoulder-length hair and a goatee walked in, giving you a bright smile. "Ashland Barnes?" He asked as he looked down at the file in front of him. You smiled back, watching as he went to sit at the table.

"That'd be me. You're taking my statement?" You asked, moving to sit across from him. Your heart was racing, but you wouldn't let him, or the detectives and DA on the other side of the glass, see that. You'd never been in big trouble like this, but you watched enough Law Order to know how this worked.

"That's right. Now, let's get a few simple questions out of the way before that, shall we?" He replied, never giving you his name.

"Sure, ask away," you said, remaining as nonchalant as possible.

"Your name is Ashland Raine Barnes, correct? And you attended Park Vista Community High School?"

"Yup, that's me. Wretched middle name, isn't it?" You joked, leaning forward on the table. You saw him crack a small smile, knowing you were already breaking down his professional exterior. "I saw that smile, you thought it was funny."

"I'll admit it. You're a bit of a joker, aren't you?" he questioned, brown eyes searching yours for something. You just smiled and nodded, knowing you'd be closer to telling your story if you were agreeable. "Alright, let's start from the beginning. When did you first become acquainted with our detective?"

"Second semester of senior year. We were in a class together and my friend Justin would not shut up about her," you started, already brought back to that first fateful day.

"Justin, we're gonna be late," you called to your friend, your Converse thudding across the linoleum of the hall. It was your first day back from winter break and you were already going to be late for your first class. "This is why we don't hang out before school, Honor Roll."

"Shut up, Ash." Justin called back, running past you to make it to his math class, his curls bouncing slightly with each step. You had photography first period, so you weren't as worried as Justin was. "I'll see you in physics, alright?"

"Sure thing, now run, Forrest, run!" you laughed, turning to run up the stairs to your class. You heard Justin's laugh, making you smile as you finally made your way into the class just as the bell rang. Photography had always been your favorite class, it was just fun to watch your simple pictures be turned into beautiful works over time. You heard talk amongst the other students about a couple new kids, seniors like you. You didn't really pay that much attention, though. You figured you wouldn't be involved with them, that your group would remain as it had since freshman year. You couldn't've been more wrong.

"So, what was it that drew your friend to Naomi?" the man asked, jolting you out of your memories.

"Well, she used to fall asleep in class, and he thought it was oh-so-cute," you replied, shaking your head slightly. "She was a light skinned, Puerto Rican-Dominican, long hair, and 'mature in the body like woah'," you said the last part mockingly, reminded of how Justin had described her to your group at lunch that day. "He said that wasn't the only reason he liked her, though."

"So, tell me how you actually met Naomi," the man instructed, letting you launch back into your story.

The day seemed to fly by, and before you knew it, you were sitting in the third row of your physics class, Justin sitting beside you. "You know, the packet over the break was stupid," you muttered, rolling you eyes.

"I helped you with most of it, what're you talking about?" Justin laughed, taking his packet out of his backpack.

"I know, but there's a reason it's called a break, ya know?" you replied, sticking your tongue out at him. Justin laughed again at your childish behavior, making you smile. The teacher still hadn't shown up, but you immediately noticed the new girl that walked into the classroom. You could tell Justin noticed too, the way he seemed to perk up and his eyes widening in realization making it obvious. "Who's that?"

"Remember the girl I was telling you all about at lunch?" Justin asked. He continued once you nodded. "Yeah, that's her. I'll see you after class, alright?"

"What? Justin," you nearly hissed, watching as he grabbed his things and went up to your other friend sitting next to the girl. You realized what was going on the second he nodded his head towards you, your other friend nodding in agreement and getting his things. Justin sat in the seat next to the new girl, waving shyly. "Please tell me Justin did not just do that," you quietly fumed as Derek took the seat next to you.

"Oh, he did," Derek said, pulling out his own work. "Andrew said he did the same thing to him in math."

"No," you said in disbelief, dragging out the word. "Hold up, why didn't I hear about that?"

"He told me and Tevin, you were too busy swooning over Justin to notice," Derek replied, rolling his eyes. "Your window's closing, are you gonna make a move on him or what?"

"I don't like him like that," you mumbled, casting your eyes down to the desk as a blush started to overtake your face.

"Yeah, sure you don't," Derek teased. You were saved from replying as the teacher finally walked into the room, clapping his hands to get the attention of the class. The look Derek shot you let you know that it would not be the end of the conversation. You groaned, already knowing that Derek, Tevin, and Andrew would give you hell for this.

"So Justin and Naomi really hit it off, ya know?" You said, gesturing towards the interviewer. You still weren't sure just who he was, but you dealt with it. "They start talking, like a lot. The next few weeks were pathetic , seeing him fawning over her like some puppy."

"How'd they hit it off?" He asked.

"Well, Naomi moved to Florida from New York, just like me and Justin. So, Justin was all into that, talking about New York with her and just anything. Thing is, for a guy from New York, Justin's pretty trusting. I always used to ask him how he survived out there, since you really gotta watch your back. You never know what's gonna happen or who you can trust. Most New Yorkers know that, but I guess Justin never got the memo. Anyways, he's basically going crazy for her, telling her all this dumb crap," you replied.

"What did he tell her?"

"He starts saying this stuff like, 'what the heck I gotta do to be with you?' and who does he have to be to make her into him. It was dumb, especially since he didn't know her all that long," you replied, still somewhat bitter about that.

"He told her all this in person?" the man questioned, somewhat incredulously.

"What? No, he told her over text," you said. "He wasn't that stupid. At least, not yet."

"'What the heck I gotta do to be with you?'" You read out, handing Justin's phone back to him. "Dude, what the heck?"

"Pretty smooth, right?" Justin asked, seeming proud of himself. You, Justin, Tevin, Derek, and Andrew were hanging out at a diner not far from all of your places, trying to work on small assignments while getting an early dinner in. You simply rolled your eyes, not even wanting to humor him.

"Hold it, look at this one," Tevin said, passing Justin's phone back to you.

"'Tell me who I gotta be for you to be with me'? Bro," you said, slightly judging Justin. "You've known her for like a month, isn't this a bit much?"

"She just gets me, man. It's like, she's so mature and she listens to all of my problems," Justin replied dreamily. That stung, you had to admit it. The way Justin was talking about Naomi just made you feel like he was describing you, but with added feelings for her. By the look Andrew shot you, you could tell he noticed it too.

"So, has she even replied to you?" Andrew asked, grabbing Justin's phone from Tevin's hands.

"Not yet," Justin pouted. "She's gonna reply though, I just know it."

"Well yeah, she can't just leave you on read when she knows she's gonna see you at school tomorrow," Derek pointed out.

"Five bucks she just sends an emoji or something," Andrew joked. Justin's dilemma was soon forgotten, the group falling back into the normal routine of joking and telling different stories from your classes. It made you feel like things were semi-normal again, back before Naomi had came and turned the routine around. It wasn't until you had paid the bill and started walking out of the diner that Justin finally looked at his phone again.

"Yes!" Justin cheered, startling your group and other patrons of the diner. "Sorry!" He apologized, softer this time.

"What happened?" You asked as your group left the diner.

"She replied!" Justin said, bouncing as if he couldn't contain his excitement.

"Let me see!" Derek said, making a grab for Justin's phone. Justin let him, still silently celebrating whatever Naomi had sent him. "Smiley face!"

"Bro!" Tevin cheered, high-fiving Justin. Andrew and Derek seemed to share their excitement, leaving you confused.

"What's going on?" You asked, not sure how to respond to the celebration going on around you. Sure, you'd seen the guys get excited over girls before, but never to this extent. Maybe it was just because this was the first girl Justin was seriously interested in, but you didn't know.

"She sent a smiley face to Justin flirting," Andrew explained, unable to stop smiling. "That means she either wants him too, or is starting to be into him."

"You guys sure are putting a lot of meaning behind one smiley face," you replied, shaking your head. "It could just be that she didn't know what to say and didn't want to just not say anything."

"Nah man, Naomi's not like that," Justin defended her.

"How can you say that, man?! You've known her for like a month!" You argued. Sure, you were glad that he seemed happy, but it was like Naomi had pulled a shade over his eyes and made him believe anything she told him.

"It feels like I've known her all my life! I don't know what your deal is, Ash." Justin told you, eyes narrowing.

"You know what, forget this. I'm going home," you fumed, stomping off in the general direction of your home. You could hear the general confusion you left behind, but you didn't care. You didn't trust Naomi for some reason, and you sure as hell didn't like Justin getting that involved with her that fast. There had to be some way for you to make him see that.

When you got home, you had to refrain from picking up the phone and calling any of the guys. It took all of your willpower to just throw your phone to the side and work on whatever things you had left. You knew you'd need some time to completely cool off before talking to them, especially in this situation. Maybe you were being biased and Naomi wasn't actually that bad. You'd liked Justin almost from the time you'd first met him back in freshman year, and maybe you were just upset that he was finally into someone that wasn't you. You shrugged that thought off, letting yourself focus on your homework while your phone buzzed with notifications from the guys.

"So, anyways, a couple weeks after that whole mess, Justin finally decides to ask Naomi out," you explained. "They'd been texting pretty much nonstop. During class, breaks, after school, you name it, you could find Justin with his phone in hand texting Naomi. He was head-over-heels for her, going to talk to her about all his problems, giving her all his homework, it was a mess."

"And how did that work out for Justin?" The man asked, enthralled with your story. Sure, it might seem like it was just high school drama, but it was all part of the big picture here.

"She said no. Just like, 'sorry, man, not into you' level. I think it was like March when that happened. So, our prom was in April, and Justin decided to ask Naomi to prom, even though she'd already rejected him. I'm telling you, he fell hard for her," you said. "So, during physics, he gets up in front of the whole class, and starts singing and dancing. I know, it was ridiculous. Apparently the other guys were in on it too, because they just appeared out of nowhere and acted like back-up dancers and singers. Anyways, after all that was done with, Naomi told him she'd think about it. Honestly, I had to get up and leave the room when I saw that crap. It was a lot, especially since I'd been warning Justin to be careful with her. Derek filled me in on what happened after I got back."

The man looked at his watch after he jotted down a couple notes. He looked back towards the two-way mirror, as if it would suddenly reveal the people on the other side. "We've been talking for quite some time, I think it's time for a bit of a break. Can I get you anything?"

"Yeah, can I get like some chips or something and some water? I've been in here for a while and I haven't had anything to drink," you requested, noting the man's somewhat shocked look when you said that.

"Of course, and I'm sorry about that. I would've brought some water with me if someone told me," he replied, shooting a semi-glare back towards the two-way mirror. "I'll be back soon." You nodded, watching as he left the room. That was definitely interesting, especially the way you saw him wildly gesticulating through the tiny window in the door. You could already picture the next part of your story, knowing exactly when everything went wrong. You leaned back in your chair, putting your feet on the desk and crossing them as you closed your eyes, figuring you'd get a bit of rest while you waited for the man to come back.


	2. Chapter 2

**(A/N): Here is chapter two. I'm very sorry I have to label these Hamilton but again, it isn't listed as a play. Anyway, enjoy.**

Just as you were starting to doze off, images of your arrest and your story playing behind your eyelids, the door opened again. "Ashland?" The same man from before softly asked, making you slowly open your eyes. You saw a look of sympathy flash across his face, so you knew you must have looked tired. It was refreshing to see someone so expressive, especially when your arresting officers had been so crass the entire time.

"That's my name," you joked, smiling. You saw he had a fast food bag in his hand and a soda cup in the other, definitely a step up from the water and chips you'd requested. He placed the items down in front of you, motioning that you could eat if you wanted to.

"An apology for the lack earlier," he explained as you opened the bag and found a burger and fries.

"Thank you," you said, pulling out the food and flattening the bag so you could place the food on top of it. "Hey, do you mind if we just talk while I eat? Like, I'll get back to my story, but I kinda want to ask some questions myself."

"Of course," he nodded, pulling out his notepad and pen from earlier. "What do you want to know?"

"Well, what's Naomi's real name?" You asked, eating a fry.

"I can't tell you that," he replied.

"Yeah, I figured you wouldn't be able to, but I thought I'd give it a shot. You gotta protect your UCs, right?" You asked as a bit of a joke, but you knew it was true. Again, you'd watched enough Law Order to know how these things go. "I'm gonna have to take a plea if the DA offers one, aren't I?"

"That'd probably be the best option, but I'm not a lawyer," the man told you with a bit of a shrug. "It wasn't a lot, but you still sold."

"I know. You know, I understand this entire thing. Like, politicians swear that high school is when all the kids are getting addicted to the hard stuff, but that's not really the case. A lot of the time when high schoolers do drugs, they're just trying to catch a high and chill, maybe get the munchies," you said. "High school drugs are generally just pills and weed. Like, it's crazy easy to get pills and weed if you know where to look."

"You know the drug scene at your school, but you said they. Why is that?" He questioned gently, trying to make it seem like he wasn't actually questioning you. You rolled your eyes at his poor attempt, but you knew he was just doing his job.

"I talk to people, I know some people that smoke. It's not even that they're bad people, they just enjoy the high. I also knew some people who deal, and that I found out on accident. You know, I walked into the bathroom at school during finals once and caught two girls about to smoke out. They just looked at me, offered me a hit, and wished me luck on my finals when I said no thanks. Anyways, I said they because I've never done drugs, and Naomi was the only reason for me dealing. I'm not even a dealer, she was the only reason they got me on that," you explained. "You know, when I was waiting to make my statement, I started wondering about something."

"And what would that be?" The man asked. He wasn't really talking, just responding when it was necessary. You weren't sure if you like that or not, but you did know that you liked this guy enough. He was nice, not too overbearing.

"I wondered if Naomi ever feels bad for doing stuff like this. Like, she would have set up Justin if I didn't take the fall, and that would've been just because he liked her. It's kinda messed up, especially since she started pushing the whole weed thing, asking Justin to get her some," you said. "That's part of the story, by the way."

"You didn't like Naomi, I'll take it," he encouraged you to continue.

"No, not really. She came in, charmed the dude I'd liked since freshman year, and then she wanted him to get in some major trouble for her. It didn't feel right to me," you admitted. "See, Justin has a future. He's honor roll, works harder than anyone else I know, and got accepted into multiple colleges. I knew if he got caught with that weed, he would've thrown that all away."

"What about your own future? Weren't you worried about that?" he asked.

"I wasn't planning on going to college anyways," you told him. "I was going to take a gap year and then try to be a freelance photographer for magazines and stuff. If that didn't work out, then I'd go to trade school." Throughout the conversation, you'd been eating, and you'd finished about half of the food. You took a drink of the soda and contemplated whether you were ready to continue your story or not. "I think I'm ready to continue."

"Go right ahead," he prompted.

It had been nearly a week since Justin had asked Naomi to the prom. She'd been giving every excuse in the book: it was too expensive (which you weren't arguing since you struggled to pay for yourself), she was just a transfer and wouldn't feel comfortable with Justin's friends, the list went on and on. You knew the spiel; it was the same one you used to avoid going to homecoming with someone you weren't interested in. You were hanging out at Justin's house when he got the text that set off your alarm. "Hey, Ash?" You looked up. "Yeah."

His eyebrows were furrowed. "Naomi just asked me if I smoke," he said, not looking up from his phone.

"What?" You asked, tumbling from where you were sitting on his bed. "That's sketchy."

"Yeah, she just asked if I smoke weed. What should I say?" he asked, looking for guidance. He'd been bummed lately since Naomi still hadn't given him an answer, but anytime he talked to her he still held hope.

"You don't, just tell her that," you replied, going to sit back on the bed, book in hand. "Why's she asking anyways?"

"Maybe she's looking for a supply?" Justin responded, texting away.

"What're you telling her?" You asked, curious. Normally the dealers were able to find the people looking for weed within a month of them coming to the school. It was odd that she hadn't found one yet if she was honestly looking for a high.

"That I can find her some," Justin replied with ease, like that sentence wasn't the stupidest thing you had heard all day. And that was including the guy in photography asking you if the teacher would notice if he edited in a small Shrek into one of his projects.

"Do you even know where to get drugs?" You asked, brow raised.

"How hard can it be?" Justin asked.

"I don't know," you said, shaking your head. "Why are you agreeing to this? It can hurt you big time."

"Maybe this is my in with her. Maybe she'll finally like me back, and go to prom with me," Justin insisted, the look in his eyes letting you know he wasn't going to let this go. "C'mon, Ash, this is my chance."

"It's just… I don't trust her. Do you know how much trouble you'll be in if you get caught?" You continued, needing him to see just how crazy he sounded. "And, again, you don't even know where to get drugs! You don't hang out with guys like that!"

"I don't know, maybe I can ask Andrew if he knows a guy," Justin trailed off, on his phone again as he texted. "Nope, Andrew just said 'why the hell would I know?' Maybe I can call one of my cousins, see if he knows anyone."

You sat, watching as Justin tried to call anyone he knew, searching for that little bit of weed to get for Naomi. It made you sick, seeing how he was willing to do anything for her, even things he knew to be illegal. You pulled out your own phone, texting to call in a favor you'd held since the previous year. You also texted one of Justin's cousins, giving them instructions to not go through with a deal for Justin's own good. You received replies to both of your texts within minutes, faster than the whole mess Justin was going through.

"So, what are you thinking as you watch Justin trying to get the pot to sell her?" The man asked. You still didn't know his name, but you liked having him as a nameless listener. Then you couldn't name an enemy, even though you didn't consider him to be that.

"I'm thinking, what the heck is he doing? Cuz he doesn't do things like that for anyone, and he doesn't hang out with guys like that. Trust me, I should know," you replied.

"So what did you do?" He asked. You took a moment to collect your thoughts, finally getting into the meat of the story.


	3. Chapter 3

**(A/N): This is actually going to be five parts long. I'm making a chapter for each song. Hope you like chapter three.**

"Well," you started, thinking back to Justin frantically calling anyone he knew to get the weed for Naomi. "It gets a bit complicated from here, so tell me if you need me to slow down."

"Listen, man, I'm trying to get a bit of weed. Do you know anyone I can buy from?" Justin asked, pacing his room as he talked to his cousin on the phone. This was the third cousin he'd talked to by your count, and you already knew how this was going to play out. You'd taken to hanging over the side of Justin's bed, eyes following his movements. Justin nodded along with whatever his cousin was saying, thanking him before hanging up.

"So, what'd he say?" You asked, looking up at Justin.

"That he'd see if he knew anyone. What does that even mean?" Justin asked, running his hands through his hair in frustration. You smiled softly at that - for as long as you've known Justin, he'd always mess with his hair when he was frustrated.

"He's probably trying to decide if you're trustworthy if he does sell," you replied easily. "You gotta admit that it's kinda weird how you're asking for weed all of a sudden."

"I guess," Justin huffed, jumping onto the bed beside you, nearly making you tumble off of it again. "Man, who knew it'd be this hard to get weed?"

"I still think it's weird that she hasn't found her own dealer yet, they're all over the school," you told him as you pulled yourself back onto the bed. You rested your head on Justin's shoulder, watching as he continued texting Naomi. "I'm just telling you, I have a really bad feeling about all of this."

"You don't like her," Justin said, an observation more than an accusation. It wasn't surprising: you were never one to hide your dislike for people.

"It's not that I don't like her, it's more that I don't trust her. Something just feels off about this whole thing," you shrugged. "Just, be careful, alright?"

"Aren't I always?" Justin asked, smiling.

"I've seen you do some stupid stuff," you laughed, standing and grabbing your bag from the floor. "I'm gonna head home, keep me updated."

"I always do," Justin told you. "Text me when you get home."

"Sure thing," you said, walking out of the room. You passed by Justin's mom on the way out of the house, greeting her with a bright smile. You were tempted to tell her what was going on just so she could talk some sense into him, but you decided against it. You'd already made the decision to help him, but it wasn't like he knew it.

"So you told Justin's cousins not to sell to him," the man clarified.

"Well, yeah. Selling pot is a felony, and buying it isn't exactly legal either," you told him. "While I was working out my own thing to help him, I was also talking to his cousins, making sure he thought he'd actually done something, without doing anything that could get him in trouble."

"And what was that?"

"Well, they took a couple weeks to get back to him. He was getting frantic since school was ending soon and Naomi kept texting him all these questions about it, talking to him at school, asking if his dealer was a student, saying she'd find a way to repay him. He was sweating it, man. Like, he really wanted to get this weed for her, but he had no idea where to get it," you explained. "It was kinda sad, honestly. Anyways, they were just gonna sell him a bag of oregano. It wasn't like he was well-versed in the world of weed, so he wasn't gonna notice anyways. Worst case scenario: he looked like an idiot in front of Naomi."

"So how'd you know where to get the drugs from?"

"Let's get this straight: I don't smoke. Never have, never will. I saw a deal go down in my Spanish class. They noticed me watching them, and offered a favor in return for not ratting on them. Favors really come in handy, so I agreed. I wasn't gonna rat on them, but it was nice to have a favor anyways," you replied. "I called in the favor pretty much immediately after Naomi asked, but they didn't come through until like a week later. You know, they had a bad feeling about her too."

You were in the darkroom after school, developing some pictures while waiting for your guy to show up. It didn't take long: ten minutes after the bell rang and the teacher left, he slipped in. "Hey, Ashland , I got what you asked for," he told you, looking around the room. "Huh, we've got a pretty cool photography class."

"Yeah, man. You can relax, the teacher already left," you replied. "How much?"

"It's an eighth, you're lucky you're cool with me," he said. "These can sell for almost fifty. It depends on who I'm selling to."

"Dang, I didn't know it was that expensive," you said, whistling lowly. "I owe you anything?"

"Nah, you called in the favor. We're even now," he told you as he knelt to where your bag was. He opened it, taking the baggie with weed and dropping it inside. If anyone happened to walk in, it would just look like he was looking for something in your bag. "I know you don't smoke, why'd you want weed instead of something else?"

"If I tell you, you gotta promise not to tell anyone else," you dropped your voice to a whisper. You turned away from the photos you'd been developing to sit on the ground next to him. He nodded, giving you his word. "Alright, well, you know that girl Naomi?" Another nod. "Well, she asked my friend to get her some weed, and he has no idea where to get it. I figured I could use that favor and help him out a bit."

"Dude, can I tell you something?" This time it was your turn to nod. "Well, the other dealers I talk to don't trust her. We think she might be a narc. If you give it to her, don't take any money and don't do it at school."

"Is that why no one's sold to her? And why are you telling me this?" You asked, taken aback by his advice. Considering the fact he sold at school, it was jarring to have him tell you not to.

"You can get in huge trouble selling at school. You're cool, I don't wanna see you go down because you're trying to help a friend," he said, shrugging. He stood then, brushing off his knees. "See you around, Ashland ."

"Yeah, see you," you said, standing as well. He left the darkroom, leaving you to try to focus on your pictures while your mind was reeling from the new information. If the dealers thought she was a narc, did that mean it was true? Should you tell Justin what he was getting into? You thought back to the weed in your backpack, considering dumping it on the bus or into the ocean. That train of thought was cut short when your phone went off with a text from Justin. My cousins called me up, they wanna meet tonight. You down to come with?

"So, Justin's cousins were pretending that they were going through with a deal?" the man asked.

"Yeah, and he didn't know what to expect so he asked me to come with him. It's not that he didn't trust his cousins, it was just that he knew they wouldn't do anything too crazy if I went with him," you explained.

"And you were close with his family?"

"Of course, I've been hanging out with Justin since he moved to Florida," you replied. "I know his family, he knows mine, everyone was pushing us to get together." You rolled your eyes. "But yeah, his cousins and I were chill. Anyways, we met up with his cousins and they started asking Justin why he even wanted the weed, why he thought they should sell to him, things like that."

"What was his response?"

"You're really doing this, huh?" You asked Justin as you waited for his cousins to show up. You were leaning against a brick wall, watching as Justin stressed. "Calm down, you're making yourself look suspicious."

"Why do you suddenly know everything about drug deals?" Justin asked, coming to a stop in front of you. "How can you be so calm? This is illegal, what the hell did I get myself into?"

"Dude, you can still back out. Just tell your cousins you're not interested anymore. I know the basics of drug deals from television, and I'm calm because I don't really care. Does that answer all of your questions?" You snarked.

"Ha, very funny. Do you know how much it costs? My cousins just told me to bring twenty-five," Justin told you.

"They're probably getting you an eighth," you shrugged. After meeting with your guy, you decided to do some research on the whole weed business yourself. Honestly, it wasn't a bad way to make some money, as long as you were careful and knew what you were doing. But considering the fact they were just going to sell Justin a baggie of oregano, you knew they were really milking him for his money. You'd definitely have to talk to them about that later. "Doesn't seem too bad."

"I don't have anything to worry about, right?" Justin asked, standing next to you and wiping his forehead with his sleeve. He was sweating badly, and you were sure it wasn't only because of the Florida heat.

"Other than the fact that dealing is kinda illegal, if you act cool no one will bother even looking our way," you reassured him, putting your hand on his shoulder. "We'll be good, Justin, but it's not too late to back out."

"Nah, I need to get this stuff for Naomi," Justin brushed you off as he saw his cousins walk up. They immediately greeted the two of you, pulling you into hugs before proceeding to tease Justin. Apparently he'd already told them the weed was for a girl he liked, because they all kept teasing about her until Justin was flushed in embarrassment. You stood a few feet away, laughing a bit as you watched it all go down.

"So why should we give you these drugs?" one of Justin's cousins asked as their teasing finally stopped.

"Love," Justin answered simply. The cousin exchanged a look with you, and you just rolled your eyes.

"What?" A different cousin asked, not believing what just came out of Justin's mouth. Maybe you weren't surprised because you'd been putting up with Justin's crap for months now.

"I'm in love, this can be my chance to get her," Justin insisted. It would have had the same effect if he told them 'only if you believe in love' instead: it wasn't actually a real reason. His cousins nodded like it was anyways, the first one turning to the cousin who'd yet to speak.

"Get him the stuff," he said. The third cousin nodded, reaching into his pocket. Justin handed him the money, and got a small sandwich baggie in return. They did some work on the oregano, turning it into little nuggets that would've had you fooled if you weren't somewhat familiar with weed. It made you believe the stories of kids getting a good amount of money selling oregano to freshmen.

Once the deal was done, Justin's cousins left, hugging you and simply nodding at Justin. Justin had already pulled out his phone, texting Naomi to let her know he got it. You walked with him to the bus stop before parting ways, the baggie of actual weed at the bottom of your backpack making your stomach turn.

"So, we got the oregano from Justin's cousins, and as we're going through all of this, I'm getting nervous for the first time since it all started. Justin texted Naomi to let her know he had the stuff for her, and instead of agreeing to meet up, she insisted he bring it to school. Like, she was trying to get him into more trouble. It was making me question everything, especially with my guy telling me that the dealers at school thought she was a narc," you told him. He'd been diligently taking notes the entire time, interjecting only to clarify something or encourage you to continue.

"And Justin had no idea his cousins hadn't actually sold him weed?" He asked.

"Yeah, Justin doesn't know weed, he's not that kind of guy," you clarified. "Getting the stuff was the hard part for him, and he assumed everything would be smooth sailing from there."

"So what happened next?"


	4. Chapter 4

**(A/N): Here's chapter four. Please comment and let me know if you like it.**

"Alright, the next day at school Justin was acting super shifty. He didn't want to really talk to any admin or teachers, he dropped his gaze whenever staff would talk to him, stuff like that," you explained. "During class, you could tell he was nervous. I got there a bit after the two of them, so I just kinda dropped my little baggie of weed into her purse. Naomi was so focused on Justin she didn't even notice."

"Did you talk to Justin about what he was doing?"

"Yeah, we talked afterwards. When he came in, he said he didn't want to be all like 'heyyy girl, I got your weed' and just give it to her, so they were waiting. The teacher was super late that day, not like any of us were complaining. Anyways, they waited a few minutes, and I was back in my seat, kinda just watching what was going down," you told him.

"Looks like they're having an intense conversation," Derek said from beside you, shaking you out of your stupor.

"Yeah, I guess they are," you muttered, scribbling something down in your notebook. "What do you think they're talking about?"

"I dunno, but they're arguing now," Derek told you, nodding slightly in their direction. You looked over, and, sure enough, they looked like they were arguing. Naomi seemed pretty anxious, trying to shove something towards Justin. Justin was just calm, pushing her hands back towards her, shaking his head as he talked to her. "Did he get her the… you know?"

"Yeah," you replied. It wasn't like it was a secret in your friend group, Justin had asked all of his close friends before he turned to asking his cousins. "But he doesn't know it's not really the stuff. Poor kid doesn't know anything about weed."

"And you do?" Derek asked, raising a brow as he turned to look at you.

"I've seen enough TV shows about drugs," you shrugged, as if that gave you any real street cred. "I still don't feel too good about all of this."

"Yeah, it seems weird, but what can we do? It's what Justin wants," Derek shrugged in response. "We're going out after school, me, Tevin, and Andrew, you wanna come?"

"Yeah, sure, what're we gonna do?" You replied. "And why isn't Justin coming with?"

"You've been off, and we think you might need some time away from Justin just to clear your head," Derek gently told you, as if he was afraid of what you'd say. You nodded, knowing that he had to be right. You'd been worrying constantly, trying to figure out how to keep Naomi from turning on Justin and handing him to the police (if the dealer you knew was to be trusted and she actually was a narc). Even an afternoon away from that would be a relief.

"Yeah, I think you guys might be right. For once," you joked, a small smile to let Derek know you were just messing with him. "And you still didn't answer my question. What're we gonna do?"

"Arcade? Movie maybe? I dunno, we might just head to the diner," Derek replied. You nodded as he spoke, not really caring what the group would do. You turned to look back at the two in front of the class, still arguing.

"Yeah, after Justin gave his baggie to Naomi, they were arguing for like, a long time," you said.

"What about?"

"She was trying to make him take money for the weed, but he didn't want that. Justin just wanted to be with her, you know? He wanted that in any way, even if it was just as a way for her to get high," you replied. "They were arguing back and forth. 'Take the money.' 'Keep your money.' 'You're making me feel guilty, take the money.' 'I don't want your money.' It was a mess, it's a wonder no one else noticed it going down."

"So, at this point did you know she was an officer?" he asked.

"Of course, no high school student turns down free weed," you huffed. "I mean, unless they don't smoke. But one thing she said seemed really sketchy to me. Justin told me that she told him he really came through for her and that there was one more thing he needed to do for her."

"She was insisting that he take the payment, and he didn't want to," the man commented. "Do you feel that there was coercion for him to take the money?"

"I mean, yeah, of course. He made it obvious that he didn't want to take her money, and she kept pushing it," you said. "He even told me before that he just wanted her to like him, never anything about making money."

"What did you do while watching all of this?"

"Arcade sounds fun, we haven't been there in a couple years," you told Derek, eyes following Naomi's clenched fists as they traveled between her chest and Justin's. It was probably money, your mind running through every possible way this could pan out. Best case scenario, Naomi was actually just a student and wanted some weed, and nobody got in trouble. Worst case, she was a cop and Justin was going to get busted for oregano of all things.

"Yeah, alright, I'll tell Tevin and Andrew then," Derek said. You could hear footsteps in the hallway, the teacher finally approaching the classroom. You thought Naomi would give it up when the teacher was so close, but then she gave her last ditch effort to get him to take the money. Derek was saying something else, but you didn't hear it as you saw Naomi surge forward and cut Justin off with a kiss. Your heart dropped as you saw Justin's body just completely relax, and Naomi slip the money into his hand.

You abruptly stood up, chair scraping against the floor. Derek cut off mid-word, watching you grab your backpack from the floor. "Ashland , where are you going?" Derek asked, surprised at your sudden need to get out of the room.

"Home," you told him, slinging your bag over your shoulder. "I'll text you later, tell you if I'm still down to hang out." Derek nodded, not questioning you further as you made your way through the room. You didn't even care that half of the class was watching you storm out, you just knew you needed to get out of there. When you made your way past Naomi and Justin's table, you don't even know what you were thinking. You saw the money folded up, sitting under Justin's arm as he just looked over at Naomi with that stupid, lovestruck look on his face. Without a second thought, you swiped the money from their desk. If anyone was going down for this, it wouldn't be Justin for doing nothing.

"So I took the money and got out of there," you said. "I honestly don't know what came over me. Maybe I was just upset that he was willing to throw everything away for her. Anyways, I just left school, walked home, and kinda just locked myself in my room."

"And the school just let you leave?"

"I mean, yeah, campus security doesn't really care when it's almost the end of the year," you replied with a shrug. "I was out of that place within ten minutes. Anyways, I was at home, not really wanting to talk to anyone as I realized what happened. You know how they say hindsight is always 20/20? Well, I was getting mad hindsight then. I realized I never had to get her that weed, I was better off just keeping it or giving it to people I knew for sure weren't narcs. If I hadn't dropped that baggie of weed in her bag, all she would have was a baggie of oregano, and therefore nothing would've happened. I mean, unless they tried pinning intention to sell drugs on Justin."

"You were having regrets," the man commented.

"Of course, I never would've done that if I'd actually thought it through," you replied. "It was all madness, and you know nothing like that would've happened if Naomi hadn't been pushing Justin, and if I hadn't tried to help him. That night Justin even came to my house, trying to see what was up with me earlier."

You'd been stewing for hours when your mom yelled for you, telling you Justin was waiting at the front door. You grabbed your phone, figuring you'd just walk over to the nearby park. It would be empty, seeing as it was starting to get dark. "What's up?" you asked, closing the front door behind you.

"I can ask you the same thing," Justin replied, his hands shoved into his pockets as he looked at you. "Why'd you run off during class?"

"Let's walk, I don't want my mom hearing this," you said, already making your way past him. You heard him follow you to the park, already cleared out except for a few straggling kids. You walked over to the swings, taking a seat. Justin took the swing beside you, waiting in silence for a few seconds before speaking up.

"What's up with you? You've been acting weird," Justin commented.

"They think she's a narc," you blurted out, deciding to get to the point of your anxiety.

"What?"

"The dealers at school, they think Naomi's a narc," you told him. "That's why they won't sell to her, they swear she's just undercover. You know what that means, don't you? She was just using you."

"What're you talking about, Ash? I know her, she wouldn't do that to me," Justin insisted.

"Justin, that's why she did this to you! You're so blind, just because you like her you swear she wouldn't do anything bad. It's her job to lie to people, Justin! She doesn't like you," you argued, voice growing louder.

"How do you know?! Didn't you just say they think she's a narc? Why would you trust them? They're drug dealers, Ash!" Justin argued, getting frustrated with your sudden outburst. "If getting her that weed was the only way I could keep her in my life, then so what?"

"Dang it, Justin, it wasn't weed!" You blurted, standing up. "I got your cousins to sell you oregano!"

"Why would you do that?" Justin asked, voice suddenly raising as he stood up too.

"Because I didn't want you to go down for something as stupid as this," you said. "You know what? Forget it, I'm going home." With that, you turned around, starting to walk back in the direction of your house.

"Wait, Ash," Justin said, voice almost pleading. You kept walking, not wanting to hear whatever else he had to say. Sure, you didn't want him to go to jail and you came up with this whole plan because you liked him, but was there really a bad side to it? You were stopped by Justin grabbing your arm as you tried to walk away.

"What?" You asked coldly.

"Why? It was my decision," Justin said softly. You could almost see the kicked puppy look he undoubtedly had on his face. Sure enough, that was the exact expression he wore when you turned to look at him. You took a second before answering before deciding to just take your chance.

"I didn't want to see you go down because I like you, you idiot," you nearly whispered, but by the look on Justin's face, you knew he heard you. He was just frozen there in shock, so you pulled your arm from his hold. "I need to go." With that, you nearly ran out of the park, not stopping until you had made it back to your house. You locked yourself in your room, ignoring the calls and texts coming in from Justin until you had fallen into a fitful sleep.


	5. Chapter 5

**(A/N): This is the last chapter. I hope you guys liked this little story. Please comment and favorite. Thanks.**

It had been a couple weeks since your confrontation with Justin. Andrew, Derek, and Tevin had taken your side, the four of you resuming your lives without Justin. One thing you did notice was Naomi's sudden disappearance from school, which held with the dealers' theory of her being a narc. You were sitting in the back of the physics class, talking to Derek about the upcoming year. You were going to take a gap year, but everyone else was planning on going to college in the fall. As you were describing the road trip you were planning, two uniformed officers came into the room. They spoke to your teacher, and your teacher soon pointed you out.

Everyone's attention turned to you as the officers walked to your desk. "Ashland Barnes?" one of them asked.

"Yeah?" You replied, turning your attention to the man.

"Please stand," he told you. "Ashland Barnes, you are under arrest for drug possession with the intention to sell." Derek looked shocked from beside you, and when you snuck a glance at Justin, all of the color had drained from his face. You stood and let the other officer place cuffs on you as she read you your rights, your face completely calm despite your pounding heart and racing thoughts. They led you out of the classroom, which had been shocked into silence. After all, you were always the quiet one, the least likely to get in trouble.

Instead of taking you out to a squad car, the officers led you to your locker. The janitor was removing the lock, revealing your clean locker. The male officer put on gloves and began rifling through your things, making a mess of your carefully organized locker. It took only a few minutes for the officer to find nothing, and he turned to you. "Where's your supply?" he demanded.

"I don't have one," you shrugged. "I'm not a dealer."

"Don't lie to us," the woman said, pulling on your cuffs slightly.

"I don't have a supply because I'm not a drug dealer," you replied. "And if you could not do that, I'd appreciate it." The woman responded by tugging on your cuffs again, making them dig into your wrists. You winced at the feeling, but chose not to say anything else. You looked down the hall, seeing various lockers thrown open with papers and books scattered on the floor in front of them. By the amount of people caught, you could tell Naomi wasn't the only undercover officer at work.

The officers took you to the main office, where you were met with about a dozen kids waiting. You scanned the faces, recognizing some from your four years at the school, but you didn't see your dealer. The officers called every person's parents, taking them to the squad cars after, and slowly the group began to dwindle. You were one of the last to leave, and you had to admit that you were getting really sick of your arresting officers.

After your interview with the nice guy that treated you like a human being, you were interrogated by detectives. The entire time they were yelling at you, talking about how you needed to give up the act. "We have evidence that you planned to sell those drugs," a male detective yelled.

"What evidence?" You challenged. Save for touch DNA, there was nothing to prove that you'd even talked to Naomi.

"Don't play dumb, we have every text," the man replied.

"What are you even talking about? I never talked to Naomi, I didn't like her," you replied, suddenly confused. "Touch DNA on the bag I'd get, but texts? It's hard to text someone you never talked to outside of class."

"I'm talking about the ones between your friend and her. So what, you use him as a proxy to take the money for duds while you slip the customer the actual drugs?" the detective speculated. "It's your word against hers, and who do you think we'll trust?"

He had you there. The police would protect their own, and despite the fact that you never really planned anything with Naomi, they would do whatever it took to take you down. You slumped down in your seat, taking the abuse from the detective until your court appointed attorney showed up.

You spent a week in a juvenile detention center waiting for indictment since you were still technically a minor. You had to admit that you didn't have it as bad as you could've, especially since you heard talk that some of the dealers got sent to actual prisons. You had consistent visitors in your week: your parents, Derek, Tevin, and Andrew showed up. When indictment came around, you took the plea deal for two years probation.

During the week you spent in juvie, you couldn't help but think about how you could've avoided all of this. You could've told Justin about your suspicions from the beginning, but it's not like he would've listened. You could've just given Justin the oregano and let him look like an idiot, but no, you just had to go and get actual weed for her. You mainly just wanted to talk to Naomi, see what she thought now that she had done all of this. You wanted to know why she had to come in and destroy everything you knew. You wondered if she still thought she did the right thing during those months.

A couple weeks after the plea deal was arranged, you got a phone call from a journalist reporting the entire thing. You thought his voice sounded familiar, but it didn't click until you walked into the interview room and saw the same man from the day you were arrested. "So you aren't a detective, huh?" You asked, putting your bag down on the table and taking a seat across from him.

"I never told you that I was, you just assumed," he replied with a smile. "So, Ashland, can you tell me what happened since we last talked?"

"Uh, well, I was sent to juvie since I'm not technically an adult yet," you replied. "I turn 18 next month, so luckily all of this happened when I was still a minor. I took a plea for two years probation, so I can't really do anything. If I try to go to college, I gotta say that I have a felony charge, and I won't qualify for any federal financial aid, so it's not like I can afford it anyways. Naomi messed up my future big time."

"Have you talked to her since all of this happened?" He asked.

"Nope, but I never really talked to her in the first place, so it's not a loss," you said with a shrug.

"How about Justin?"

"He visited me when I was in juvie, we made up. He's still depressed about Naomi though," you told him. "That's a conversation he'd love to have if he ever saw her again."

"Do you know what he'd say to her?" The man seemed even more invested in the story than he initially was, but you chalked it down to it being major headline news. If this was his first major piece, then there was undoubtedly a promotion in his future if this story gained as much attention as he seemed to think it would.

"We actually talked about this. He said that he'd ask what the heck did she do to him. He honestly really liked her, and it was only because it was her that he did all of this. If it had been the dude UC that I heard about, he would've turned him away, told him to back off, but it was all because it was her," you spilled, finally putting everything you'd been thinking about in juvie out there.

You had been in Juvie four days when he showed up, his face blotchy and swollen. You swallowed nervously as he awkwardly stared at you.

"I'm sorry Ash. I didn't know, I really didn't. I should have just listened to you. I liked her so much, you know. Maybe it's because she reminded me of you. I had a crush on you in junior year, you know. But you always avoided that kinda subject so I just thought you were like out of my league or something. I never meant for all this crap to happen." He let the words tumble out.

You blinked back tears. It hurt to see him a wreck. "It's okay. I wasn't planning on college anyway. And...I had no idea you had...you know. Are we like...cool now?"

He nodded softly. "Yeah...and we could be even more than...cool...if you want."

"Yeah." You said putting a hand on his shaking one.

He gave you a watery smile. "Cool."

Letting your thoughts slip back to the present you see he's still attentively listening to your views. "She just got him so infatuated with her." You started up again . "I'm not sure if we could sue for entrapment, but that entire situation definitely felt like entrapment. The court appointed attorney I got isn't trash so he's still talking with us, seeing about getting an appeal to overturn the plea."

"That would be a difficult case to win," the man commented. "But I wish you the best with that. Is there anything else you'd like to talk about? I know it's sort of off topic, but the last time we talked, you mentioned that you told Justin that you liked him. Did anything come from that?"

"Aw, you're a romantic," you teased. "Well, when I was in juvie, we actually talked it through and we've been together for a couple weeks now. As soon as I was out, he took me on our first date. Honestly, I can say that's the one good thing that came out of all this." The man looked overjoyed at the news, and you could tell he was fighting to keep in his enthusiasm. "You can react more than that, you know."

"I'm just really glad that worked out for you," he gushed, a wide smile on his face. "And you got me, I'm definitely a sucker for a good love story." You laughed at his excitement, already knowing that you'd look out for him since he seemed like a good person.

"Yeah, to think all it took was for me to get a felony for him," you joked.

"There was obviously no easier way," the man joked right back. You liked him, he was quick witted.

"Well, that's all there really is to my story," you told him. "Thank you for listening and not judging."

"No problem, let me show you the way out," he told you, standing and waiting as you gathered your bag. The two of you made small talk as he led you to the lobby of the building, and just as you were about to leave, he surprised you by putting a hand in your shoulder. "Hey, Ashland."

You looked at his hand and then back at him.

"Sorry," he apologized, moving his hand, He dug into his pocket before speaking again. "When I was researching you I got to look at some of your pictures from school, and they're really good. If you're looking for a job, I can get you on the staff here as a photographer."

"Wait, really?" You asked incredulously as he handed you a business card.

"Yeah, just give me a call," he told you.

"Why are you doing this for me?" You questioned, despite your instincts telling you not to look a gift horse in the mouth.

"Because you deserve a second chance," he replied. "I'll be waiting for that call, Ashland." With that, he turned and walked away, heading back in the direction of his office. You shook the shock out of your system, pocketing the card before heading out. You smiled when you saw Justin waiting for you outside, sitting under a tree. Justin looked up, smiling brightly when he saw you.

"Hey, I thought I said I'd call you," you joked as Justin walked up to you. He took your hand in his and your heart fluttered just like it did the first time.

"I was okay with waiting." Justin replied, he still felt bad, you could tell.

"You waited a hour though." you laughed. The two of you walked hand in hand down the street, headed back to the same park you'd first confessed at.

"I know," Justin flushed. "So, what were they asking about?"

"Remember how I told you about that nice detective when I was getting questioned?" You paused, waiting for his nod. When he gave it to you, you continued. "Well, turns out he's a journalist and that's who I met with today. He just wanted a follow up on what happened."

"What'd you tell him?" Justin asked, his hand nervously twitching in yours as if he thought it odd still to be there.

"I told him about juvie, the plea, things like that," you replied. "But after we were done, he gave me his card and said he wanted to offer me a job as a photographer."

"Well, there you are, Ash. Maybe I didn't permanently mess up your life!" Justin said hopefully. You dropped his hand and turned to look at him. "It's not your fault you know."

"I guess." He muttered.

You pull him into a hug that he gently returns.

"C'mon, we should go celebrate," you tell him, letting go of his embrace. You head over to a coffee shop and order.

He sits with you in a booth and smiles.

While there were countless things you could've done differently, you had no way to know if it would've led to this moment right here. When you looked back, you were sure you didn't do the right thing at the time, but you knew that you did what you were meant to. Right here, in this moment, you knew in your heart that that was enough.


End file.
